“Nobody Likes Ads… But Everyone Likes a Good Brand”
Julia Neumann joined Le Truc, Publicis Groupe's global creative collective, midway through September this year, as partner and chief creative officer. Her appointment rounded out Le Truc's creative leadership team, alongside Bastien Baumann (founding partner, chief design officer), Andy Bird (founding partner, chief creative officer), and Marcos Kotlhar (partner, chief creative officer).
An Austrian native, Julia most recently served as a chief creative officer at Johannes Leonardo, where she led work for clients including Kraft Heinz, Instagram, Uber and Volkswagen. Previously, she was executive creative director at TBWA/Chiat Day, and across her career she has led award-winning campaigns such as 'Billie Jean King Your Shoes' for adidas, JetBlue's 'FlyBabies', and MTN Dew's 'Major Melon'. She began her career in advertising as a copywriter at Saatchi & Saatchi and has worked across Wieden+Kennedy, BBH and Mullen.
Fresh into her new role, we were keen to pick Julia's brains for some nuggets of wisdom, which came in abundance via the notes app on her phone and one of her new colleagues.
LBB> Is there one event or piece of wisdom from your career that's always stayed with you? What is it?
Julia> Here’s the thing: there’s not one giant, all-encompassing lesson I can point to. It’s not that black and white for me. My biggest lesson is made of a bunch of little ones, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem. I typically put them in my ‘Stuff to Remember If You Remember the Name of the Note’ note on my phone. The first one in there is the most recent and I wrote it down during my first week at Le Truc, where I was brought on as partner and chief creative officer in September.
LBB> Tell us more about it!
Julia> One of my Le Truc partners, Bastien Baumann, and I were working on a presentation for *insert a shit ton of important people* and I had a slide that said, “Nobody likes ads!” I know that’s true, but it just looked harsh on the page.
Bastien looked at it and added “...but everyone likes a good brand”. Problem solved. Nail hit on the head. I then told him I was going to steal this.
And I did. Right now (danke, Bastien).
LBB> What lessons did you learn from moving to the US to work?
Julia> I grew up in Hörbranz, Austria, and emigrated to the US in my 20s. I learned fast about how to sink or swim in the creative industry. Throughout the several roles that I’ve held over the years, I recognised the importance of being myself and remaining authentic to who I am and the work I create. I never had the desire to be a cog in the wheel of consumerism, but instead, harness a brand to tell stories that are disruptive and powerful.
LBB> Why do you think this message from Bastien struck such a chord?
Julia> As creatives, our craft is dedicated to vying for the attention of our target audience. It’s 2023 - ads are omnipresent. The more you are inundated with information, the more you can become desensitised. A car, a fast-food chain, the latest ‘hydrating beverage’. What makes one of these things more unique than the next? People will pay a premium to enjoy ad-free content, and I don’t blame them.
But if we focus on the second half of that sentiment, ‘everybody likes a good brand’, I’m reminded of why I became creative in the first place. A brand is greater than the sum of its products - it’s a lifestyle. While ads make us feel like we’ve lost our sense of individualism, brands help us differentiate ourselves. And it’s my job to build brands through creative products and spread their message. Suddenly, we’re no longer talking about a car - we’re talking about a means to get you to your destination.
LBB> How do you anticipate re-evaluating this piece of advice, and how have you re-evaluated others previously?
Julia> This goes back to my first point; my career has not been defined by one single lesson. It’s more a commitment to life-long experimentation and learning, in which I have gathered nuggets of wisdom along the way. Like I mentioned earlier, I keep a note on my phone where I jot them down. Here are some honourable mentions from the vault of ‘Stuff to Remember If You Remember the Name of the Note’ note:
‘Ein gluecklicher Mensch braucht keinen Porsche.’
Roughly translating to ‘A happy person doesn’t need a Porsche,’, this mantra is something my best friend’s mom said last Christmas. And that stuck with me. The happiest person is only as fulfilled as the people - rather than the things - around them. It's a true insight I wanted to remember for the next time I work on a car account. Or head towards my midlife crisis. Either one.
‘Pretty people aren’t funny.’
Despite Matt Rife proving this theory wrong right now on TikTok, this is something a former boss said, and it continues to resonate. I shared my casting pics for a script with him and he wasn’t super excited about one of my favourites.
When conventional notions of ‘being pretty’ are not enough and you dare to go deeper than what meets the eye… that is where the interesting bits and pieces lie. These conventions are what we are ultimately responsible for, so we might as well undo them. This is true for many things, but especially when casting for a comedy script.
‘If the background picture on your phone is of you, we shouldn’t be friends.’
See above. Same folks.
‘Good is the enemy of great.’
If you’re too involved with yourself, you might miss out on the actual gems. There’s so much good, but great is just hard to get to. And it’s uncomfortable. That’s a hard zone to be in but it’s unavoidable. You should not only be okay with it but live in it. It’s where the great stuff sleeps.
‘When you stop learning, stop questioning, and start believing in your wisdom, you’re dead. If you’re not stupid anymore you’re dead.’
So perhaps the biggest lesson of all is to never stop learning, to never stop asking why.
Just walk in ‘stupid’ every day with a mind ripe for re-shaping. It’s not that difficult.
